Why I Bought the Canon 5D Mark IV for Professional Video Work

I’m a professional Photographer and Videographer. I split my time almost 50/50 producing corporate video work and shooting corporate event photography. I get paid to do this. After considering all my options, I decided to pre-order the 5D Mark IV.

I have to be honest. This is a bit of a rant. I’m really confused as to why this particular camera is getting so much internet comment hate. I get that other cameras offer the same features or more. I understand that Canon seems late to the game. What I don’t understand are comments like the following from an fstoppers comment thread:

So the biggest complaint seems to be that the camera has a crop factor when shooting 4k video. What does this mean? Without getting technical it simply means that in 4k video mode, the camera only uses the exact amount of area on the sensor that it needs to render a 4k image. Because the full sensor is higher resolution than 4k, it only uses a cropped section from the center of the sensor.

The end result is that you get a beautiful 4k image, but your focal length will be longer. A 50mm lens ends up shooting like a 80mm. Is this ideal? No. But is it a deal breaker? I don’t see why it would be. It’s easy to adjust. Shoot with a wider lens or move back from your subject. It’s really not that big of a deal.

People claim that you’ll lose the “full frame look.” It’s funny how nobody can explain what that look is. As far as I can tell it means you won’t be able to get the same razor-thin depth of field (in 4k) as you can with full frame. Again, does this make the camera’s 4k feature unusable for professional work? Of course not. Again, I can easily adjust to compensate and achieve a shallow depth of field look just like before.

Seriously guys. I don’t get why this is a big deal. This camera is fantastic, especially for traveling creators who love a camera that will shoot video and photos. I’ve shot with the 5D line professionally for years and it’s convenient. My clients love my work and don’t care what camera I use. Most don’t even care if I shoot 4k or not.

Then there is the Sony camp who swears by the a7s II. Yeah, that’s a great camera if you have Sony glass. good luck finding the equivalent quality, speed, and variety as in the Canon lens lineup. Ergonomics and the menu system are a disaster. I’ve only ever picked one up a handful of times but that was enough to know I could never comfortably shoot a whole event with one.

Nobody seems to be talking about one of the greatest features on this camera. It’s absolutely fantastic. I’m talking about the autofocus system (in video mode). Seriously – this one feature is worth the upgrade. It’s like having a professional focus-puller pulling focus for you. I’ve yet to dive into the various modes, but the default works amazingly well.

The camera will automatically recognize a faces in your scene and keep the closest one in focus. As the distance between you and your subject changes, the focus systems smoothly and quickly keeps focus. If you are shooting something other than a person, just tap the touch screen and the camera locks onto that point, keeping it in focus as you (or it) moves.

And then they’ve added many other features that we all wish we had years ago. GPS, Wifi, Remote shooting, etc…

The bottom line is that there is no reason you can’t make this a great workhorse video and photo producing machine. Anyone who says otherwise… I just can’t take seriously.